Ireland’s Martin wins in Catalunya

Reuters, BARCELONA, Spain

Irish cyclist Daniel Martin, left, of Team Garmin-Sharp, and Spaniard Joaquim Rodriguez, center, of Team Katusha, ride in the last stage of the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain, on Sunday.

Photo: EPA

After two runner-up spots and a fourth place, Ireland’s Daniel Martin finally netted the overall classification of the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya, Spain’s second-biggest bike race.

The 26-year-old Garmin-Sharp rider finished safely in 42nd spot in the peloton on Sunday after a fast seventh stage with eight hilly circuits at Montjuic Park in Barcelona.

“Winning here in Catalunya is very special, it’s my home” Martin, who has lived in the Catalan town of Girona for the past five years, told reporters.

“This is my most special victory ever and I think I’m going stronger than ever before. The key to the win has been [Giro 2012 winner and teammate] Ryder Hesjedal for his hard work in the break to Port Aine and in fact the whole team has done a lot of great work on each stage,” he said.

The final stage was won by Belgium’s Thomas de Gendt ahead of Spain’s David Lopez and Croatia’s Robert Kiserlovski after a four-man break sheered away with four laps remaining.

After early race leader Alejandro Valverde of Spain crashed out on stage three, Martin seized the top spot overall after he concluded a day-long 150km break of 25 riders on Thursday’s stage four with a spectacular lone victory at Port Aine in the Pyrenees.

Just 10 seconds ahead of Rodriguez overall, Martin then widened his gap to almost twice that by taking bonus seconds on offer in mid-race sprints on stages five and six.

The Spaniard made dangerous attacks on stage seven’s multiple ascents of Montjuic, but Martin stayed glued to Rodriguez’s back wheel to claim his biggest stage race win since the Tour of Poland in 2010.

Among his rivals, Martin said Rodriguez was the most tenacious.

“Right up until the last lap we had to suffer and Rodriguez made several really difficult moves,” the Irishman said.

Asked what his next objective is, Martin joked: “To go out this night to celebrate it all. No seriously, it’s the Ardennes Classics [in Belgium next month] where I want to make the most of my good form.”

This story has been viewed 1012 times.

Comments will be moderated. Remarks containing abusive and obscene language, personal attacks of any kind or promotion will be removed and the user banned.